Interest rate reduction bill proposed for northeast Pennsylvania

10/24/2011

The devastation of recent natural disasters to northeastern Pennsylvania has prompted state Senator Bob Casey to introduce legislation that would lower the interest rates of SBA disaster loans, the Citizens Voice reports.

Currently, residents pay up to 2.6 percent interest and small business owners can pay anywhere from 4 to 6 percent, the Times Leader notes.

Casey, along with Hazelton Representative Lou Barletta, who had proposed the law, stressed the need to provide the area with relief, as northeast Pennsylvania's 9.4 percent unemployment rate is higher than both the 8.2 percent state average as well as the national average.

"These residents have suffered an economic disaster and now a natural disaster," Casey said in a prepared statement, as quoted by the news source. "We need to do everything we can to help them get back on their feet, reopen their businesses and start hiring again."

The bill, called the Small Business Disaster Assistance Act of 2011, would adjust SBA loan interest rates to 1 percent for businesses that lack credit resources, and 3 percent for those with available credit.

Furthermore, a clause in the bill would make the 1 percent rate available to all victims that declared disasters as far back as January 1, 2011.